Over the past decade, the railway market in the EU has known significant changes gradually introduced by three “railway legislative packages” aimed at opening national markets and at enhancing interoperability across the EU and railway competitiveness. The Directive on the interoperability of the rail system within the European Union is part of the Fourth Railway Package and aims to eliminate the final technical and administrative barriers, especially by establishing a joint approach of safety, cost-efficiency and administrative norms and by accelerating administrative procedures and avoid hidden discrimination.
Moreover, through the new legislative package, the European Commission proposes five new options whose structure mainly focuses on the interaction between the European Railway Agency (ERA) and national railway authorities. According to the latest options, national railway surveillance authorities could entrust ERA with the certification of railway undertakings and the authorization of vehicles.
New interoperability provisions
Through a first legislative proposal, the European Commission aims to revise Directive 57/2008 on interoperability. The main reason, the Commission says, is having noticed problems in the activity of the TSIs, with the implementation of interoperability directives for some specific projects and with the reactions received from interested parties.
On this basis, the Commission plans to propose various amendments to the Directive on Interoperability by introducing new provisions, a number of new definitions, the concept of a vehicle authorisation for placing on the market, and some provisions on registers. The Commission seeks to clarify the existing provisions regarding the scope of the Directive, application of TSI to existing systems, TSI derogations, TSI deficiencies and applicability of national rules.
According to the new proposals, further provisions are to be specified in the TSIs to cover existing subsystems and to enable railway undertakings to check compatibi-lity between vehicles and routes on which these vehicles are intended to be ope-
rated.
Annex I of the new proposal for a Directive shows that there is no longer any mention of the trans-European rail system because the TSIs will have been extended de facto by the time this Directive enters into force (currently, theme debates are going on at the European Parliament and after these debates, current proposals will have to be adopted by national government, as well). The separation between high-speed (HS) and conventional rail (CR) has also been removed in view of the merging of a number of HS and CR TSIs.
“The pursuit of interoperability within the Union’s rail system should lead to the definition of an optimal level of technical harmonisation and make it possible to facilitate, improve and develop international rail transport services within the Union and with third countries and contribute to the progressive creation of the internal market in equipment and services for the construction, renewal, upgrading and operation of the rail system within the Union”, informs the new proposal for a Directive.
ERA has new attributions
Without damaging its role in elaborating the European legislation on interope-rability and rail safety, it is obvious that, at the time being, ERA does not have major surveillance and control competencies as regards national rail authorities, infrastructure managers and market players. Its responsibilities in terms of monitoring are practically limited to monitoring safety and interoperability performances, believes the European Commission.
The Commission’s proposals that refer to enhancing the role of the European Railway Agency seek to eliminate the
existing technical and administrative barriers aimed to increase the competitiveness of the railway sector compared to other transport modes and to continue developing the single European railway area.
Operational objectives include by 2025, the removal of all unnecessary national rules, a 20% reduction in the time to market for new railway undertakings above the baseline situation in 2025 and a 20% reduction in the cost and duration of the authorisation of rolling stock above the baseline situation in 2025.
Following the analyses carried out, the European Commission has elaborated a series of options aimed to enhance ERA’s role. Therefore, we can talk about greater coordination role for the Agency in ensuring a consistent approach to certification of railway undertakings and vehicle authorisation or the transformation of ERA into a one-stop-shop, where the final decision on certification and authorisation remains with the NSAs but ERA performs entry and exit checks of applications and of the decisions.
Another option that needs further debate refers to the sharing of competencies between NSAs and ERA, where the final decision on certification and authorisation is taken by the Agency. ERA taking over activities of NSAs in relation to certification of railway undertakings and vehicle authorisation is another option that could become effective if the legislative package will be adopted in the current form.
The Commission also proposes a distinct option regarding the adoption of horizontal measures, includes other le-gislative and soft measures (beyond sharing the responsibilities between national authorities and ERA) that could be implemented to improve the competitiveness of the rail sector.
According to this final option ERA would “enjoy” the consolidation of its role regarding the monitoring and control of implementing national safety and interoperability legislation, but also the capacity of amending safety and intero-
perability directives to enable the adoption of implementing acts setting out common principles and practices for national authorities.
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